Flood fears easing, clean-up begins

Houses outside the levee at St George have been swamped but fears the Balonne River will flood the whole town are easing as forecasters predict a lower peak. Photo / The Australian

The imminent threat to the town of St George looks to have eased as southern Queenslanders once again count the cost of devastating floods.

Thousands of people were evacuated from St George and taken to the safe havens of Dalby and Brisbane, with grave concerns the Balonne River would rise above the town's levee bank.

But those worries were soothed yesterday, when the Bureau of Meteorology predicted the river would peak at 14.5m today - short of the 15m mark previously feared.

Balonne Shire Mayor Donna Stewart said work to shore up the levee banks has been completed, and she had faith in the earthen defences to protect St George.

"I've got every confidence it will hold the water out of the town," she said. "But there are about 30 homes outside the levee which have floodwater in them or soon will have."

Police Minister Neil Roberts said 2500 of St George's 3000 residents had been evacuated.

Several hundred people disobeyed the mandatory evacuation order issued on Sunday night, which Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson said was disappointing, but not surprising.

However, Stewart said those who stayed knew what they were doing and were not being "pig-headed".

"They were monitoring the situation and they said they would have evacuated this morning if the river continued to rise ... they weren't going to be taking any risks," she said.

Roberts said floodwaters had damaged 280 homes in the town of Mitchell, where evacuations also occurred at the weekend.

Residents slowly re-entered the town on foot as the damaged Maranoa River Bridge - the main access point to the town - was assessed for safety.

Residents were also able to return to nearby Roma, where about 380 homes had some form of damage.

Maranoa Mayor Robert Loughnan said the situation in both towns was "pretty diabolical", but he was heartened by the presence of more than 400 volunteers who formed a mud army.

Further west at Charleville, residents were yet to receive the all-clear to re-enter the town, despite floodwaters slowly subsiding.

Mayor Mark O'Brien said the evacuation zone around the town would probably remain in place until later today.

He said some people had returned to Charleville, but hundreds were still sleeping at the town's evacuation centre.

Agriculture industry body AgForce said the state's third bout of severe flooding in three years would take its toll on farmers.

AgForce Cattle president Grant Maudsley, who had an aerial tour of southwestern Queensland, said there was a huge rebuilding task in front of primary producers.

"These families are facing major clean-ups of their homes, but they are also confronted with the daunting and costly task of rebuilding fences and infrastructure swept away by the floods," Maudsley said.

Queensland Premier Anna Bligh opened the Premier's Disaster Relief Appeal yesterday, kicking it off with a A$2 million ($2.57 million) donation from the state Government.

The fund, which will be administered by the Red Cross, takes a similar shape to the one which raised A$277 million after last year's floods and Cyclone Yasi.

Bligh also announced that disaster relief payments would be extended to flood victims across southwest Queensland. A total of 20 local council areas are now eligible for the funding, which includes one-off payments of A$1000 for adults and A$400 for children.

A toddler drowned near St George after wandering off on Sunday night into a dam on a property 35km from the inland town.

A clean-up is underway in Moree as residents of the flood-ravaged northern New South Wales town begin returning to their homes.

Moree Mayor Katrina Humphries said some people from outlying areas remained in evacuation centres but nearly all residents whose homes were not badly damaged had returned.

The clean-up was "vile and soul-destroying", Humphries said, with temperatures hitting 36C after 10 days without sunshine.

However, everyone was pitching in, including Rural Fire Service volunteers who were going house to house pumping out backyards and hosing homes and footpaths.

She said more than 300 homes had been totally flooded while a similar number were less severely damaged.

- AAP